Maaco ?

[derekhonda]

Hey,

I have a problem. My truck needs a paint job and being in college does not make a quality/expensive job possible. Also, my truck is 10 years old and has 115k on the odometer. Basically, I need some info on Maaco.

I stopped by one today, and went inside and met with the owner/manager/whoever was in charge. He was very nice and we looked over my truck together. He gave me their supreme package
1-Ambassador=$250
2-presidential=$499
3-supreme=$799

for $600 out the door. I decided I would sleep on it and I came home and jumped on the net to do some reviews. They are 99% HORRIBLE. No one seems to have anything good to say about them. Is this just because the few people who have had problems are flooding the net and the 95% of people who are happy with their paint job remain silent....or are this many people having problems?

Im at a point where I have to get the paint job, so someone tell me what to do or atleast share a story (good or bad)

[wvspeedfreak]

Maaco around here seems to be a hit or miss kind of thing.I have seen some decent looking paint jobs and I have seen some that look like they were applied with a garden sprayer.I can tell you this much though......if your vehicle needs any rust repair definately don't let them do it,you will regret it.

[derekhonda]

No rust on this bad boy, I did have a couple of dings and a long scratch along a door that he said they could fix it all for 75$

Im still undecided. I too kind of feel it is hit or miss, i just dont want to miss ive put too much blood sweat and tears into this truck to have someone mess it up.

[derekhonda]

.

[yamablaster24]

My buddy got his painted By Maaco and came back with winshield wipers, all the plastic between hood and windshield, locks on doors, and lots of overspray all painted some places more then others, a couple run spots by winshield also. :rolleyes:

[Mxjunkie]

Its better just to go to a real autobody shop, with maaco they get paint in 55 gallon drums and you get what they get in the drum. They dont do body work, if it has a defect you got it..

When I worked in the business I had to repaint countless cars from them. :ermm:

[derekhonda]

Well, let me explain how i ****ed my truck up today. I had just decided i wanted to keep this beast. I was looking to sell and upgrade but frankly i just dont have the money, plus I love sitting tall and getting stares.

Anyways, thos black things that run all the way down the truck, i dunno what they are called, but they are in horrible shape. So i decided it was time to yank them off. So i go to napa, talk to a kid who works their and tell him what i want to do, and he says oh i know something that works great, its just adhesive cleaner it will loosen up the 3m and that molding will just come off.

Anyways, I sprayed it on, and yep, the molding fell right off....along with my paint. So now this is the situation I am in. Something has to be done, it has to be painted.

The other option I am considering, would be to get a giant rocker panel made out of linex. Because my tires stick out wider, I have a lot of little chips from where they throw rocks back. This is what I was thinking:

[derekhonda]

I dunno, Im just toying with Ideas right now. I think the rocker panel might look cool linexed, along with maybe some fake fender flares. This is still about 400 bucks though....damn nothing is cheap.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Mxjunkie]

I've noticed alota trucks that are being offroaded now are getting the rhinolining its good stuff.

Did he tell you to use paint thinner?

[prepracing]

Originally posted by derekhonda
Well, let me explain how i ****ed my truck up today. I had just decided i wanted to keep this beast. I was looking to sell and upgrade but frankly i just dont have the money, plus I love sitting tall and getting stares.

Anyways, thos black things that run all the way down the truck, i dunno what they are called, but they are in horrible shape. So i decided it was time to yank them off. So i go to napa, talk to a kid who works their and tell him what i want to do, and he says oh i know something that works great, its just adhesive cleaner it will loosen up the 3m and that molding will just come off.

Anyways, I sprayed it on, and yep, the molding fell right off....along with my paint. So now this is the situation I am in. Something has to be done, it has to be painted.

The other option I am considering, would be to get a giant rocker panel made out of linex. Because my tires stick out wider, I have a lot of little chips from where they throw rocks back. This is what I was thinking:

what the hec did you use ? aircraft stripper.... I've seen Maaco paintjobs that look great BUT it all depends on what kind of condition the body is in. Definately don't let them repair rust, I had a friend that had a ranger that rusted out over the rear fender and all they did was fill it full of bondo and paint it. It looked fine for a while but in about 6 months the rust just pushed the bondo back out and cracked the paint up. Of course different shops might have better preperation techniques. The bad thing about his was they would not do anything about it, that was the $250job, the higher priced ones may do ok

[Giz400ex]

There probably some good Maaco shops out there but not alot. I would save your pennies for a real shop and I would also stay away from car dealers auto shops! There better but not that much better. Just my experiences here:D

[stumpleg]

I have heard that Maaco does a decent job, but if you want it to last it will not. They say it should last a couple of years, but after that the paint will start to wear off. I thought about getting it done to my truck a while ago, but that scared me, so I didn't get it done.

[Flynbryan19]

Maaco sucks. My fathers been an automotive painter for over 30yrs, and hes says they're the bottom of the barrell. They use the cheapest/poorest grade of products, and have the least talented/compitent employees in the buisness. Its certainly your money, but I wouldn't even let them give me an estimate let alone work on my vehicle.

[derekhonda]

What kind of a job did you guys witness? I understand that the $250 job is horrible, but that should be expected. This is their third step...I dont know if that means anything but it did come with a 4 year warrranty. 2 yrs against flaking, and 4 years on fading.

Has anyone witnessed like the presidential or spreme paint jobs? Any quality to these?

[TM426]

I think if that happened to me I would try the herculiner. It wouldnt be too expensive. Just use painters tape and mask off the top of your line and roll it on. I think it would look pretty good if you took your time.

[pastfast125]

sry, I went a lil overboard on ur truck, but I decided I'd try at makin it look like it had that herculiner or whatever....this is what happens when I get bored and am using photoshop.....but anyway.....if you offroad I think the herculiner or rhinoliner or something would be a good idea...if it's just a road truck..well then I dunno..good luck with whatever u do.

[derekhonda]

Well, think I made the right decision ?

[derekhonda]

Door

[derekhonda]

voila

[pastfast125]

sweet..I like it, real nice looking.

[derekhonda]

4

[derekhonda]

5th & final

[TM426]

LOOKS GOOD. Did you do that yourself?:macho

[prepracing]

turned out good man :macho

which step was that by them? i was going to get mine done too by maaco but heard some iffy things about them

[derekhonda]

I didnt do maaco, i did a linex rocker and flare.

[blackwell17]

wow that looks awesome man... nice

[01 400EXer]

How much did it cost you to get that done and did you have your bed done at the same time? Thanks!

[FourFiftyFour]

it looks good derek! definitely like it :)

[derekhonda]

Total bill was $503.50.

Thanks cdalechick, maybe if you are ever up this way i could show you how roomy the backseat is...

[01 400EXer]

I think it looks real good and may consider doing it to my truck. Did you already have the bed sprayed or did you get that done at the same time?

[derekhonda]

The bed I had sprayed about 2 years ago, and that was around $400.00. Man I sure am keeping Line-x in business.

[N2O]

Looks nice:macho

[FourFiftyFour]

Originally posted by derekhonda
Total bill was $503.50.

Thanks cdalechick, maybe if you are ever up this way i could show you how roomy the backseat is...

ha! nice try